Fear this Duniya

TAKE ACCOUNT OF YOURSELF BEFORE YOU ARE TAKEN ACCOUNT OF !!!

The danger of attaching oneself to the worldly affairs and falling into sins and disobedience to Allaah.

Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) said in Quran: "Know that this Dunya, this worldly life is nothing but play and amusement and nothing but beauty; and boasting between men and rivalry in wealth and children."

In this Ayah Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) tells us about the attributes of this world, attributes which many of us fail to recognize.

This world is La’abun, it is play and amusement and beauty which many people chase. And Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) tells us in another ayah emphasizing this fact: "Don’t let this dunya, this worldly life fool you.. and don’t let it fool you is being emphasized. And don’t let the devil fool you about your Lord.. Don’t let the devil fool you about your Lord Yaa Aiyyuhal Mumin for which he strives day and night to make you forget the reality of this world you are living in."

Know O’Mumin that the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said concerning the Hellfire : "The Hellfire is surrounded by your desires, surrounded by women, surrounded by wealth, surrounded by pride and Paradise is surrounded by what?? Paradise is surrounded by undesirable things."

Know O’Mumin that this world fools you, if this world fools you know as the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : “This world is cursed. If you have wealth or women or you are famous don’t be proud. This world is cursed. Everything in it is cursed – illah zikrullah – except the remembrance of Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) and that which resembles it and the scholar of one wisdom.

Know O’ Mumin that Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) tells us in His Book: "Beauty for men is that which they desire from women, that which they desire from children and from gold and from beautiful animals, horses and wealth. This is the enjoyment of this world, the enjoyment of this world which will end and Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) has the best above with Him". And Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) continues : "Say O Muhammad, shall I not inform you of that which is better? That which is better than all these worldly things?"

For those who fear their Lord, with their Lord is what ?? Jannath, gardens underneath which rivers flow. And purified mates and – wa ridwanum MinaAllaah – the pleasure of Allaah.

Know O’Mumin that Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) told us about the worth of this Dunya. He told us about the worthlessness of this Dunya. In a Hadith when the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : Whilst he was walking with his companions and they passed by a Mayyith – a dead lamb, the Prophet said ” Would one of you love this?” And obviously the companions said: ‘even if it was alive it wont be something praiseworthy to slaughter it ” and the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : "Wallahi, and By Allaah this Dunya, this world is more worthless to Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) , more worthless to Allaah than this dead animal is to you. . "

This world is deceiving you. This world plays games with the minds of Insan. This world will mock you into believing that it will last forever and as Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) tells us : "This worldly life is nothing but a deceiving enjoyment. It is deceiving because it will end. Deceiving because if you don’t act as you are being commanded and know that the threat of the punishment of Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) is upon you. "

The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said “This world in which we reside, it is a prison for the believer.” What does this mean? The Believer is restricted by the Book of Allaah & the Sunnah of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

So that when he sees that which surrounds the fire, from women, from wealth, he will think about his Lord and he will freeze. And the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : And this world is the Jannah of the kaafir. Because the kaafir he acts like an animal. He does what he wants. He is not held back by anything. He doesn’t look to His Creator and fulfill His rights.

Know O’Mumin Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) tells you in many place in the Quran : "To beware of this Dunya.. which has fooled many of us even from the Muslims. Many chase after women, many chase after wealth…." Allaah (subhana wa ta’ala) advices you : "Al Haaqu mutha Kathar… Chasing after this world has beguiled you, beguiled you until when?? Hatha zurthumul Maqabir.. until you reach your grave, until you reach your grave where no one will be there to aid you. Neither your women, your wealth, your reputation, your name, your lineage."

Just as the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : “Three things will follow that dead person; Three things all of them, of which none of them will escape. Three things will follow you : his family, his wealth and his action."

The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) gave an Ishar, a direction and some understanding for the one who is wise – Al Haleem because the one who is stupid will not recognize the importance of this statement. He said : "Two of those things will return.. your wife and your wealth. Those women are going to cry for 4 days , 5 days and 6 months later they are going to get married again. Your children will think about you for a few years, if they are righteous Insha-Allah until they die. And your wealth for whoever you leave it will use it the way they please."

And only one thing will stay there with you : "Amaluh – His actions."

The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : "Let us look towards our actions". As Umar (Radiallahu anhu) said : “Bring yourself to account before you are brought to account. And weigh your deeds before your deeds are weighed.” Bring yourself to account sisters, because this is a dangerous thing, a dangerous thing.

For which the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : "Why were we put on this earth? Why are we put to this earth to which our hearts have become attached to?? The earth which we love, where we turn away from the obedience of Ar-Rahman and we turn to the obedience of the Shaytan." The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said in an authentic hadith : ‘Verily this world, this world in which we are standing on right now, is green and sweet and Allaah (subhana wa tala) placed you on this earth generation after generation. Why?? So that Allaah (subhana wa tala) will see how you behave, how you act … are you worthy of Jannah? Are you worthy of the Paradise that which He spoke about in His Book Or are you here for the fire ? For the fire ?

Haasibu anfusakum – Bring yourself to account. Think of your deeds this morning and last night? Because the time is coming close. So the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : "Fear this Dunya. This Dunya which is sinful… Fear this Dunya". Fear this Dunya which will come upon us any minute or the Angel of Death can take us any minute here. For Wallahi we don’t know when our time is written. And we will ask when we die ‘O Allaah, can you return me to earth so that we may give Sadaqa and be among the righteous but the answer will be ‘No.’

Yaa Ayyihal Mu’min : Know that this issue is serious. And due to us not paying and understanding it the way we are mean to we are being fooled. We have become fooled and we have become attached to it. And we have let the devil deceive us. And the beauty of this world has won many of us. So we chase after beautiful things like cars and horses and wealth and women and status and pride and a reputation because this Dunya is winning. The Duny is winning and that is why the Ahl ul Ilm – the People of knowledge they say : "All Fitnah, every trial and tribulation stems from two things – Ittiba ushShubaha wattiba washShahwa – Following your desires and following doubts which is innovation ."

Following your desires, why? Because you love this world. And this world is more beloved to you because you are so attracted and the belief of your Lord is not established in your heart.

Are you in doubt that you will meet your Lord? Are you in doubt that you will sit in that grave? If you say I do not doubt.. where is the actions? Because this life that we abide now is the life of Amal, the life of actions. When we die and we are resurrected then it is too late. You will be rewarded. If you did good you will be rewarded. If you have done evil you will be rewarded with it.

And some of the Salafs they say : Because we see many people, when they are established and they become so strong or in a profitable state they become attached to this world and they start sinning. And we know their Imam will decrease their faith because Iman without the Ahlul Sunnah increases and decreases ; Increases with obedience to Allah and decreases with the obedience of the Shaytan, sinning and disobedience.

Ibn Qayyim Rahimullah said that some of the Salafs said : "Sinning leads to disbelief in Allaah (subhana wa tala). When we sin know that this could be a road to Kufr." They said : ‘Likewise the kiss to leads to intercourse and music leads to fornication and the look leads to love and sickness leads to death.’

Pay attention sisters, pay attention to this matter of this Dunya. Pay attention to the many matters people have advised us concerning.

Allaah (subhana wa tala) in many ayahs dedicates .. many verses on this subject of which He warns us about the evils of this world. And I mentioned briefly about the example of the people who became attached to this world. What was that which destroyed the people of Aad? Love of this world and disobedience of Ar-Rahman.

What was it that destroyed Thamud? Nothing but love of this world and disobedience of the Creator.

What was it that destroyed the People of Lut? Yes love of this world and disobedience of the Creator.

What was it that destroyed many nations after them? Love of this world and disobedience of the Creator.

Because love of this world leads to disobedience of Allaah.

Let us give some example.

Some lessons we can learn about some of the people who have fallen in love with this world. Examples which pertains to us today and not only to the Kuffar, to the Muslims.

When the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) spoke about some of those people who fell in love with this world, so they prefer this world over the Hereafter and he said in the Hadith: "I saw amazing things this night, when he saw the Hellfire."

He spoke about the people whom he saw. Let us examine ourselves in the light of this Hadith, of which the threat is over every one of our head. One of the Jews, we don’t claim that we are the chosen people (Meaning we can do as we please), we are binded by the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) : Then Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : "As for the first man I passed by, whose head is being crushed by a stone. For verily he is the man who memorizes the Quran, he studies the Quran but he does not act upon it. ‘ How many of us are like this?? How many of us know something and we reject it? Then Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) continued : An he sleeps through the prayers.’

So examine yourself. Are we falling into the trap of this world? Has this world fooled you like it fooled this man? This man whose head was being crushed, his head will come back and his head will be crushed again and it will continue and continue and continue. This is the symbol of this man and the one who resembles him.

As for the second man that I walked passed : "Whose mouth, whose eyes and likewise whose cheeks are being torn apart, torn from the front to the back. Who is this man? It is the man who leaves his house, he tells a lie until the lies spreads all around the world. This is the symbol of the one who tells lies." Do you want this punishment? Do you feel comfortable with your mouth being ripped from front to back? Are you happy with that?

The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) continued : "I saw naked men and women who were crying in the pit screaming out from the punishment. Who were they? They were burning. They were the adulterers and the adulteresses." You like to fornicate, wait for the punishment. Because if you don’t get it in this Dunya you have the threat in the Aakhira. You want to be burned until your crying ….with tears of blood? With tears.. where you can no longer act, when your actions have seized and you can do no more good, burn in the fire – the fornicators and the people who indulge in adultery. Why because they love this world and they follow their desires, they follow that which is beautified for them and they forget about Allaah (subhana wa tala). They forgot about their Creator. So this is how they were rewarded.

The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) continued and he said : "As for the man who I passed by and he was made to swallow stones whilst he was swimming in the Hellfire, this is the one who ate Ribah, interest. ‘ You lead in interest, get ready to be punished in the Hereafter. Prepare yourself for swimming and eating stones and where you will be stung like an animal. Why because the one who ate ribah, he loved this world and he forgot about the Hereafter. And Wallahi this matter of loving this world is dangerous… where the people love this world that ethey don’t care about Ar-Rahman.

Let us give one example from the Kutub as Sunnen, the Book of Sunnen.

This issue of fornication, an issue of which is one of the major sins in Al-Islam. Even the monkeys know the effect of it. As comes upon Amrun Ibn Maimun Al Awdi Rahimullah who said: ‘I saw a monkey in the time of pre-Islamic ignorance, one fornicated with another monkey, all of the monkeys gathered together and they stoned the fornicators until they died. Monkeys knew it. We have no shame, we are worse than monkeys. We have no shame because some of us love this world and we expose our sins and some of us are happy of that which we do and we say to you : ‘Wailaka, Wailaka’… Woe be to you.. We say to you : Woe be to you..

As the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said : “All of my Umma will be forgiven except those who openly expose their sins.” Why because Love of this world, it removes shame from the heart. Love of this world removes shame from the heart.

So as I have mentioned, don’t let the love of this world fool you. Some people believe it doesn’t have an effect upon them. People think it is something simple… Oh I sinned. Now you testify against yourself that you are evil.

Ibn Masud said in Sahih al-Bukhari : "If the Mumin makes a sin, commits a sin, the believer who sins when he sins he believes or as if he is sitting under a mountain and the mountain is going to fall on him and crush him." The mountain is going to fall on him and crush him. That’s the way he feels. That’s a believer.

As for the evil person, the sinner, he sins, and he sees his sins like a fly that passes his nose. His sins are like a fly going past his nose. Because he loves this world. This world has fooled him. It has won the battle.

And know that every time you sin and again from the effects of loving this world a black dot of the (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is placed upon the heart and this is the explanation of the Ayah when Allaah says : "How many times do we read the Quran? How many times do we read the Quran and not concentrate upon it? Like it is just a story, or just something to read." Allah (subhana wa tala) tells us about those people : "Why is it that they don’t concentrate upon the Quran? Or is it that their hearts are sealed with locks? ”

Are our hearts sealed? Have we reached that level? Have we reached that stage, where our hearts are sealed? When we don’t recognize our sins.

Allaah (subhana wa tala) tells us : ‘Kalla bal raana alaa Quloobihim maa Kaanu yaqsiboon’ – Verily a covering has been placed upon their hearts concerning that which they have earned.

What is this covering? What is Ar-Ran? Ar-Raan is what the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has told us in an authentic hadith :" if the slave sins, a black dot is placed upon his heart, and when he repents from the love of this world and disobeying Allaah (subhana wa tala) and he leaves the sin and seeks forgiveness from Allaah, then his heart will be cleansed. And if he continues to sin, the blackness will increase until the blackness covers all of the heart, until the blackness covers all of his heart."

The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said that this is the covering which Allaah (subhana wa tala) mentioned.

And when they chose to deviate “Azaballahu Khulabahum” – Allaah closed their hearts to deviate. Have we got the covering upon our hearts? Has our covering started? Many of us have blacknesses in our hearts because we don’t care. When we leave here, we go back to doing what we were doing. Many leave here not giving any thought to the words of Allaah (subhana wa tala), but we say to you : Allaah (subhana wa tala) says : ‘a day which all of you will meet, a Day in which even the best of you will never escape, Allaah says that Day of which neither wealth nor children will avail except the one who comes to Allaah with a cleansed heart. What is a cleansed heart? What is a cleansed heart that Allaah (subhana wa tala) has mentioned? Do we know?

Ibn Qayyim Rahimullah mentioned : ‘a pure heart will not be totally pure unless it is free from the following things:

1. Shirk – associating partners with Allaah, which is an opposition to Tawheed.

2. Bida’ah – which is in opposition to the Sunnah.

3. Following one’s whims and one’s passion which is in opposition to the commandment of Allaah.

4. Likewise following one’s desires which contradicts sincerity. So know that until you purify your heart of these things it is not a pure heart. Know that our hearts are dying before our very eyes.

Our hearts are dying slowly but surely. Our hearts are asking for help but we are negligent. One of the Salafs used to say – (Just to remind you, the Salafs were the most pious of people) – Not one of them of Ahlul Hadith used to commit fornication, not one of them used to go into the streets and listen to music, meaning when they became a scholar , they were rather the most pious of the people. Because they were salafi in everything. They were a Salafi in their actions, sayings, manhaj, Aqeedah, Tafseer, dealing with other people, the way we live our lives, not just Salafi man . He said sinning would cause your heart to die. And by you being addicted to sin, you will be humiliated. And abandoning sin Insha’Allaah will be light to your heart – it will give life to the heart. And it is better for your nafs : ‘Khairum Min An fusikum’ – that you stay away and you abandon and disobey anything that has to do with disobeying Allaah (subhana wa tala). Because know that this matter of loving the Dunya if for your destruction, and the destruction of those who are around you, loving this Dunay will have an affect upon yourself, it will affect yourself and your family, it may affect your husband, the dogs and cow, if you have one.

One of the Salafs used to say : ‘Verily I used to disobey Allaah and I used to know this and I used to see the signs of it in my wife, in my wife and in my riding beast.' Wallahi it is a shame, how many phone calls we get concerning marital discord, wives complaining and husbands complaining whilst the real cause lies in their own souls – from loving of this world and disobeying Allaah (subhana wa tala). How can you expect that tranquility will come upon you when you disobey?

You expect tranquility to come upon you? You expect to have happiness and comfort? And in a life which you have pleasure and you are happy and content?

Allaah (subhana wa tala) tells you: ‘Whoever turns away from my remembrance, turns away from My commands, he would have a life of misery.’ So you brought that upon yourself. If you want Jannah, Paradise , then leave off the sins, recognize and don’t let this Dunya fool you. Because if the Dunya has fooled you, then know surely you have lost. If the Dunya has fooled you, then know that surely you have lost.

No matter how much wealth is acquired by an individual, it will not award him a guarantee from the aliments of this world, (e.g. sickness), let alone give him the guarantee of eternal life. However, Allaah has established this guarantee for the hereafter.To better understand the reality of this world and that of the hereafter, two very important points were established. The first being, this world with all its glamour and fame, holds no value in the Sight of Allaah, and that the smallest place in the hereafter is better than the world and all that it contains, even if it be the size of a lash. If this reality is not understood than let him know that his end will be the hellfire, and what an evil and eternal abode that will be.

I finish off by reminding ourselves to seek forgiveness for your sins and follow the footsteps of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) – who used to say : "By Allaah I seek the forgiveness of Allah and I repent to Him 70 times in one day." How many times a day do we seed Tawbah from Allaah (subhana wa tala) in one day? How many times do we ask His forgiveness? And the answer and the reality lies in ourselves alone.